‘American Idol’ To Continue For Six More Seasons If Fox Has Its Way (And Ratings Go Up)

Despite American Idol ‘s sagging ratings compared to its glory days (i.e. when the market wasn’t so saturated with these types of shows), Fox has no plans to put the singing competition series on the chopping block anytime soon. David Haslingden, president of the Fox Networks Group, spoke recently at the Nomura 2nd annual U.S. Media & Telecom Summit in New York and said the network is “absolutely committed” to Idol, and vowed it would “throw all resources'” at getting ratings back up.

In fact, he indicated that Fox would like to keep the show, which just wrapped its 11th season, on the air for six more years.

“This is still the number one non-sport show in the United States. It’s delivering an average audience across this year’s 55 hours of 19 million people. This is a huge powerhouse show. So, I would say that any network executive in the country or probably in the world would love to be sitting up here, saying we have this franchise and we’re dealing with the fact that its ratings are off a bit.”

Last week’s Season 11 finale, which found Phillip Phillips being crowned as the winner, wound up being the least-watched finale in Idol‘s history. Haslingden added that “we’re actually optimistic that we will arrest its ratings decline and this show is going to continue on… We are optimistic it’s going to continue on for 15, 16, 17 seasons.”

So let’s see — that’s puts the show on the air through 2018. With all the stiff competition currently on the small screen — The X Factor, The Voice, Duets, etc. — do you plan on tuning in to Idol that long?